Friday is the first chance to see No. 5 overall pick Nia Coffey, newly acquired centers Isabelle Harrison and Erika de Souza along with the rest of the Stars at 7 p.m. against Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner and the Phoenix Mercury.

Moriah Jefferson (right knee soreness) and Kelsey Plum (right ankle sprain) will not play in tonight’s game vs. Phoenix

They're absolutely right to make sure they're 100% healthy before playing, but I wonder if there's a little bit of early tanking going on. Establish that crappy record first, then let the young nucleus grow in the second half of the season with the #1 lottery spot all but guaranteed.

Moriah Jefferson (right knee soreness) and Kelsey Plum (right ankle sprain) will not play in tonight’s game vs. Phoenix

They're absolutely right to make sure they're 100% healthy before playing, but I wonder if there's a little bit of early tanking going on. Establish that crappy record first, then let the young nucleus grow in the second half of the season with the #1 lottery spot all but guaranteed.

Moriah Jefferson (right knee soreness) and Kelsey Plum (right ankle sprain) will not play in tonight’s game vs. Phoenix

They're absolutely right to make sure they're 100% healthy before playing, but I wonder if there's a little bit of early tanking going on. Establish that crappy record first, then let the young nucleus grow in the second half of the season with the #1 lottery spot all but guaranteed.

No, just a simple case of paranoia. They don't have to tank to be bad. No Phoenix-itis here.

SAS starting lineup wouldn't even start for an expansion team. It's kind of a miracle that they score some points anyway. Holmes and Montgomery hoisting away and Mo not able to maintain her magic in this one.

Hamby at least has found her place on the bench.

I wonder if there will be a bit more team ball when the guards come back. This is just go down the floor and hoist it up without really looking for teammates. Now if the hoisters could make those shots, it might be a different story.

_________________“Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud.”
― Maya Angelou

SAS starting lineup wouldn't even start for an expansion team. It's kind of a miracle that they score some points anyway. Holmes and Montgomery hoisting away and Mo not able to maintain her magic in this one.

... and yet it's still a 6 point game, and BG is playing pretty well, so ... the remainder of the Merc team ...

SAS starting lineup wouldn't even start for an expansion team. It's kind of a miracle that they score some points anyway. Holmes and Montgomery hoisting away and Mo not able to maintain her magic in this one.

... and yet it's still a 6 point game, and BG is playing pretty well, so ... the remainder of the Merc team ...

our bench is awful and so far Little hasn't done any thing impressive, but I have not seen all of this game so if she dunked or something, I apologize

_________________Because there is only one Diana Taurasi.
@Phoenix Mercury

SAS starting lineup wouldn't even start for an expansion team. It's kind of a miracle that they score some points anyway. Holmes and Montgomery hoisting away and Mo not able to maintain her magic in this one.

... and yet it's still a 6 point game, and BG is playing pretty well, so ... the remainder of the Merc team ...

our bench is awful and so far Little hasn't done any thing impressive, but I have not seen all of this game so if she dunked or something, I apologize

No, she didn't, and my recommendation would be to stop watching the game. It just gets worse the further it goes.

She should be in the fucking locker room. That a clearly intentional elbow/forearm thrown at someone's head. Any ref with a modicum of guts should've tossed her.

Havent seen the game yet. And what point did it happen?

_________________"Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson were and are the dynamic duo. They're the one-two punch. They're all the clich�s possible to describe people that perfectly complement each other, who make each other better and also bring out the best in the team." �Karen Bryant

The announced it as an "unsportsmanlike technical foul. Physical taunting". I would bet good money that when they wrote an infraction for "physical taunting" it wasn't meant to cover hitting someone in the head.

The announcers seemed amazingly unexcited by the Taurasi elbow/forearm to the back of the Hamby head. It was as if a Stars player had done it The color announcer seemed to want to downplay it, saying gently "We talked off, that it looked like there's been a little bit of frustration from Taurasi. It's an aggressive game, both teams are playing hard and you know, sometimes it just comes with the territory. But an elbow to the head that's never acceptable." The play-by-play guy responds "No, no, not just the NBA, it's been a point of emphasis of the WNBA as well. Anything above the neck they're going to check" Neither one saw fit to say "So how did they not get Taurasi for that elbow/forearm above the neck, particularly since we just claimed a league emphasis??"